Citizen Cartwright

Congress oversees current laws and makes new ones. If you don't like the way things are or the way things are headed, write to your two senators and your representative (they pay attention to the mail — no joke — they want to be re-elected, after all). To find out who they are and to track legislation of interest to you, click on opencongress.org.

After bills passed by Congress are signed by the president and become law, the executive branch writes regulations to implement them. The public is given time to comment before the regulations are finalized. For an easy way to track regulations and comment on them, click on regulations.gov.

But do you get discouraged, thinking there's no way to compete with big-money lobbyists? Here's what veteran Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., says: "Money is important, but votes will beat money any day."

 

Super PACs getting involved in congressional races

At least two dozen key House districts around the nation, along with high-profile Senate races in states such as Massachusetts, Ohio, Utah and Indiana, are targets of super PAC money, The Washington Post reports.

Occupy showdowns in Oakland, Washington

In one of the biggest mass arrests since nationwide protests began last fall, about 400 people were arrested Saturday after breaking into Oakland's City Hall.

Meanwhile, the National Park Service has warned protesters that it will begin enforcing at noon Monday a long-standing ban on camping overnight in Washington's McPherson Square.

Apple: 'We care about every worker'

CEO Tim Cook has e-mailed company employees following The New York Times' article on harsh conditions facing workers in the company's Chinese factories.

"What we will not do — and never have done — is stand still or turn a blind eye to problems in our supply chain," says Cook. "On this you have my word."

How anti-terrorism money is being spent

A counter-terrorism lab at the Arkansas Department of Health — one of 62 federally funded labs across the country — has been testing for synthetic marijuana.

It's the latest sign of the way a multibillion-dollar national infrastructure built to detect or respond to chemical or biological attacks over the last decade has adapted to the lack of any actual attacks, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Also in the news

Afghans criticize France's plan to withdraw its troops a year early

As countries line up against Syrian government, Russia sides firmly with Assad

Activists crack China’s wall of denial over air pollution

Keystone oil pipeline to be linked to highway bill, Boehner says

Report: 7 former lawmakers lobbied for groups that got earmarks

FDA workers sue agency over monitoring of personal e-mails on medical devices

Does Gingrich's endorsement by Cain and backing by Palin make a difference?

Momentum seems to be shifting back to Romney

Media are pretty negative about Newt Gingrich's debate performance Thursday night.

Here's Politico's lead: "With Florida and perhaps his presidential hopes in the balance, Newt Gingrich turned in an oddly passive debate performance that left his supporters scratching their heads and illustrated his unpredictable and even whimsical style."

Romney "gets the best" of Gingrich, reads the Los Angeles Times' headline.

Gingrich's performance came as conservative media and Republicans including former Sen. Bob Dole and former Rep. Tom DeLay were sharply critical of him.

At the end of a bruising day, when the full breadth of the Republican establishment descended on him, Gingrich seemed to concede that he was outgunned, The New York Times says.

Several Florida polls indicate that the surge that started during the South Carolina campaign may have been capped, USA Today says. Romney is ahead of Gingrich in Florida by 7 to 8 percentage points, according to the three automated polls released Thursday.

Lots of the super-rich have a 15 percent tax rate

Mitt Romney's effective tax rate of less than 15 percent in 2010 is in line with an increasing number of the country's 400 top earners, Bloomberg reports.

Among that group, 131 paid less than 15 percent in 2008, compared to just 38 in 1999.

Thousands of federal employees are tax delinquents

They're paid by taxpayers, but tens of thousands of congressional staffers and executive branch employees themselves collectively owe billions in back taxes, according to an Internal Revenue Service report.

For example, 467 employees of the House, about 4.2 percent of people employed there, owed more than $8.5 million as of Sept. 30, 2010. Over in the Senate, 217 employees, about 3 percent, owed $2.13 million. And in President Obama's executive office, 36 people, about 2 percent, owed $833,970.

The reasons they haven't paid up? Many people file returns but can't pay the full amount when their taxes are due, says IRS spokesman Anthony Burke. And others may be disputing the bill, may have filed jointly with a spouse who owes taxes or may have had their tax bills increased by an audit and can't pay that higher amount.

Beware of fake reviews when you buy online

As the collective wisdom of the crowd displaces traditional advertising, one example of the lengths to which companies go to get good reviews is VIP Deals' refund offer to customers in exchange for a write-up, The New York Times reports.

VIP Deals says the Times is "totally off base."

 

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Ex-Guatemala military leader Rios Montt facing genocide charge

Defense budget cuts would limit raises, close bases

New Obama initiative will coordinate probes of mortgage meltdown

NASA's Kepler space telescope discovers 11 new planetary systems with 26 planets

Study: Brainwaves show autism risk from age of six months